The Run Away

November 18, 2016

By Anonymous, Ballwin, MO

Image Credit: Jennae P., Kennewick, WA

The Runaway

“Clean up your mess! It’s in the way of my work,” Clara’s mother shouted. “I’ll do it after my show ends,” Clara yelled back at her mother. “No! I said do it now, or you’re grounded,” she replied. “Please! I will the second it ends,” Clara promised. “When I tell you to do something you do it right away. You are going to get me in trouble at work if I have to keep yelling at you!” she violently shouted. “Ugh, you are so mean! I HATE YOU!” Clara screamed at the top of her lungs as she tore the locket her mother gave her as gift and threw it in the trash. Then she stomped out of the house so loud it sounded like an elephant stampede was coming. She ran down her chipped brown porch stairs into the tall green grass. Her mother hadn’t been able to cut it because she was super busy with work. Clara sprinted to the edge of the woods behind her house then looked back. Thoughts were rushing through her head, as she wiped tears from her pink chubby freckled cheeks. Why has mom been so mean lately? Why can’t she just stop screaming at me? Why can’t she just spend a little time with me? She turned back and started sprinting deep into the woods. She leaped over a small stream, that had quite a lot of water for its size. Clara took a seat on a rotting tree branch that lay on the bed of the stream. It must have fallen in the storm last week. Crack! She fell through the brown mossy bark of the hollow tree. She stood up to brush her shorts of when she looked back at her legs, “Ahhh! It burns!” Clara cried in pain. She looked down at her legs, they were skinned up from her ankle to her knee. Blood as red as a strawberry slowly oozed out of it causing a sharp pain in her leg. I need to go home, but she’s not going to forgive me for running out so there's no point in going home. She stood up and looked around. She didn’t know what to do now, so she took a seat on the patch of frass next to her. She picked up a stick from the ground and drew a horse. Clara loved horses because two years ago her and her mom went to her grandmother's house in the summer and went on a ride on the beach. One night Clara’s mother pulled out a golden locket in the shape of a horse and handed it to Clara and every day since then she has never taken it off. Clara’s mom tucked her into bed and whispered, ”Clara, I want you to know that I love you more than anything in the world. I will love you no matter what happens between us. My mother gave me this locket when I was ten, and I want to do the same thing, so here. Just remember when you wear it that I love you,” Clara's mom kissed her and left the room. She wiped the corner of her eyes with the palm of her sweaty hands causing her eyes to sting. I really miss mom. Why did I yell at her? Why have I been so self centered? She is really busy and she has other things to do besides worry about me. She stood up and looked around. She had no clue where she was, or which direction she had come from. She walked a few steps then looked up at the sky, it was getting cloudy and the wind was picking up. She had to be home before it stormed, she was to afraid of thunder, and she didn’t want to be alone outside anymore. Clara began walking again until she heard a rumble of thunder. She took off sprinting for a long time, and she had to have gone in the wrong direction because she would have been home already. With her mom. “Clara! Clara come home, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” shouted her mother from the other side of the woods. Clara’s eyes got wide and she smiled. She missed the sound of her mother's voice so much. “Mom! Where are you I’m lost, and I want to come home.” Clara yelled back. “Follow my voice, and you should find me,” yelled once again. Clara heard her mother's sweet voice screaming on the other side of the woods, so she turned around. She walked past the fallen tree she had sat on, then she jumped over a small stream. I must be going in the right direction, I passed this stream on the way. She followed her voice until she saw the tall grass that was in her yard. She looked onto her porch and saw her mom. She began running and then jumped into her mom's arms. “Clara I know I was being a little cranky, but please don’t run away again,” said her mother. “I won’t!” Clara promised. As soon as Clara got inside she ran to the trash can and dug out her locket. She looked at it for a moment and then put it on her neck. “Can you please clean up you mess now?” her mother asked. “Yes I will, and I will do it right away,” Clara said as she smiled and took off down the hallway, thankful to be home.

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